Inside and Out: Peacekeeping and the Duration of Peace after Civil and Interstate Wars

Arguably the most important innovation in conflict management in the last fifty years is the practice of peacekeeping: the concept of sending personnel from the international community to help keep peace in the aftermath of war.1 What is now referred to as “traditional peacekeeping” developed during the Cold War and generally involved international personnel monitoring a cease-fire, or placing themselves between belligerent armies. Most peacekeeping operations during the Cold War involved wars between sovereign states (exceptions include United Nations [UN] missions in the Congo, Lebanon, and Cyprus, and the Organization of African Unity's mission in Chad). Since the end of the Cold War, the international community and the UN have moved beyond traditional peacekeeping, becoming much more involved in civil conflicts. Doing so has meant adding a new set of functions—election monitoring, police training, sometimes even administering the state—to facilitate the transition from war to peace. Scholars and practitioners...